We live in places that will be flooded by rising sea levels. We have food production systems dependent on specific climates. And we have built economic structures, trade relationships and social dynamics contingent on certain temperatures. What’s more, we are not alone in this world, and the rapidly changing climate is a threat to the flora and fauna with whom we share this planet. Some of us think this is a problem — although admittedly not all of us.
The key questions then are: How fragile are systems to a changing climate? What are the costs of the impacts or shocks to the system (such as relocating people from places underwater, or victims of extreme weather events that are made more likely by climate change)? What are the costs of adapting to these impacts? How do we negotiate the equity and distributional impacts of these effects? And crucially, what are the costs of preventing these impacts to begin with?
That is the climate discourse in a nutshell. Except for heat. Heat is a different story because we cannot live above a certain heat level.
“Writer Fuel” is a series of cool real-world stories that might inspire your little writer heart. Check out our Writer Fuel page on the LimFic blog for more inspiration.
